Yoshikawa: The direct spark actually came from chats with our friends in South Korea. CRT Games, the folks who handled the remake of another classic title of ours, Psychic 5, brought up the concept while mulling over potential projects, which eventually led to us taking the helm of development.

On top of that, it tied in neatly with our accumulated experience and my own personal thoughts. Working on Rushing Beat X earlier this spring gave us solid, hands-on experience in modernising the beat-'em-up genre for today's audiences. We could already feel from market reactions that there is still a fiercely loyal fanbase and a healthy demand for fresh entries in this genre. Since I am an absolute sucker for action games myself, I really wanted to carry that momentum over to our next project.

I also firmly believe that IP which has been dormant for ages still holds immense potential. This particular title boasts brilliantly distinct characters and a wonderfully weird universe. In particular, parts of Asia, including South Korea, still hold a fierce torch for this game. We wanted to repay that passion while introducing its unique charm to regions that might still be meeting it for the first time.

Plus, our ongoing partnership with Irem—which kicked off after the R-TYPE Delta revival—served as a crucial background. Continually taking the magic of past classics and passing it on to modern players gave us the courage to tackle this project.

All these connections, our development experience, and the market response just happened to collide at the exact right moment. We want to craft a remake that makes veteran fans feel like waiting three decades was worth every second, while showing newcomers just how brilliant these old-school gems could be.

Yoshikawa: The absolute biggest challenge was tracking down a reliable development partner who could see the project through to the bitter end. Midway through, figuring out how to secure the necessary headcount and budget, and establishing a stable pipeline to reach completion, proved to be quite a headache. Creating an environment where our passion for the project could actually materialise into a polished product was tough.

On the development front, G.rev jumping on board midway to collaborate with us was a massive turning point. Furthermore, Taiwan's NADA HOLDINGS expressing their intent to join the fray changed everything. Once the production framework was finally locked in place, development started moving at a brisk pace.

From a licensing perspective, someone needed to play matchmaker and reconnect all the right parties. Given how much time had passed, we had to re-establish lines of communication and iron out agreements between Irem and the original creator and designer, Drew. I ended up acting as the bridge between them to get the discussions rolling for this remake.

We had to untangle manpower, budget, and licensing issues one by one as we went along. Building a cooperative network across multiple companies to shepherd this project all the way to completion is something we consider a major achievement for this project.

Watanabe: First and foremost, the visuals. While staying faithful to the foundational source material, we have polished every detail and expanded the animation patterns. To accommodate modern 16:9 displays, the playing field is wider, but we carefully tweaked enemy placements, framing, and movement so as not to ruin the original vibe. We also injected 3D lighting effects and other atmospheric touches to build a much richer visual experience while strictly respecting the original artwork.

Watanabe: Our primary focus was on 'making the graphics look richer without ever betraying the original atmosphere.' To echo what I mentioned earlier, we introduced 3D lighting processing, which simply wasn't a thing back in the original arcade days. To push those effects even further, we slapped normal maps and emission maps onto the graphics, giving the way light bounces and hits shadows a subtle sense of physical depth.

We also threw in extra animation frames to make movements buttery smooth. Of course, overdoing it can mess with the responsiveness of the controls, so striking that exact sweet spot was quite a tricky balancing act.

Watanabe: Green League Man is undeniably a blast to play. However, we didn't put any special emphasis on drastically altering character balance just for the sake of it. It might sound like a bit of a cop-out answer, but rather than nerfing anyone, our goal is to dial up each character's unique traits and make them feel even better to handle.

Watanabe: Ruri is designed as an all-rounder type, very similar to Red. Since she is a fresh addition to the roster, we wanted to make sure her traits weren't overly niche so that anyone could pick her up without feeling intimidated. Her defining gimmick is using pom-poms as her weapon of choice. While she is adaptable to various situations, her attack reach is admittedly a bit shorter than Red's.

To compensate, she boasts fantastic mobility. Get in close, and she can pull off devastating command grabs; keep your distance, and she can unleash carnival attacks, making her a breeze to fight with at virtually any range.

Yoshikawa: To be completely honest, I was just a kid when the original hit the arcades, so I wasn't exactly in a position to monitor retail performance at the time. Moreover, I don't have concrete sales data or revenue figures for South Korea on hand.

That said, I've heard countless stories from Irem folks and my South Korean friends about how wildly popular the game was over there. It was a fixture in local arcades, and for today's 30- and 40-something gaming enthusiasts, it seems to be a nostalgic classic that everyone played at least once during childhood. Through these stories, I've come to understand that the game achieved a level of recognition and special affection in South Korea that practically makes it a national arcade treasure.

Knowing that there are people who have held onto these memories for so long is both an absolute delight and a heavy responsibility as we tackle this development. We want to preserve the fun and nostalgia of those days while delivering a game that still feels genuinely entertaining if you pick it up today.

In that sense, South Korea is one of the most vital markets for City Connection, and an absolute must-have region for this project. We would love to hear what South Korean users think—whether it's fond memories of the past, favourite features, or what they are hoping to see in this new iteration. We intend to treat your feedback as precious reference material as we map out future development and rollouts.

Watanabe: The true magic of this game lies in playing together with mates. For multiplayer, we are supporting not just local four-player co-op, but also remote play features across the respective platforms. The Nintendo Switch 2 version will also support shared-screen play, and players can link up locally using multiple Nintendo Switch units as well.

Watanabe: Absolutely. We are planning a North American and European release for this remake to give even more players a chance to discover its brilliance. The fact that the original creator and character designer, Drew, is American is a major selling point for this title. With its distinct heroes and a universe where humor and high-octane action collide, we reckon western audiences will find plenty to love. We are aiming for something that could practically be called the 'post-Ninja Turtles' of the beat-'em-up scene, and we'd love to make a splash in western markets.

We are genuinely thrilled that overseas outlets have championed it as a 'hidden gem' over the years. Through this remake, we want to deliver the charm of the characters and the sheer joy of the action not just to veterans who remember the original, but to absolute newcomers as well. Furthermore, we hope this remake acts as a springboard to expand the characters' potential even further. We've been chatting with Drew about potential future developments beyond just this single title, hoping to nurture the IP's unique identity with care.

Watanabe: For this remake, the original publisher Irem and the aforementioned Drew provided us with their full cooperation. To ensure we deeply understood the source material, they handed over old notes, design documents, and materials from the era, and we decided to share a portion of those treasures with the fans.

Yoshikawa: Yes, absolutely. If this project performs well, we have a fierce determination to carry it forward into future installments. In a typical interview, you'd usually get some polite PR boilerplate like 'we'd love to positively consider a sequel' just to throw fans a bone. But I am not giving you a canned response here. I genuinely believe this IP has legs and a bright future ahead of it. Given how distinct, charismatic, and packed with personality these characters and worlds are, leaving this as a one-off remake would feel like an absolute waste.

Of course, we can't promise that a sequel is officially locked in at this exact second. Our number one priority right now is finishing this game without cutting any corners so that as many people as possible can enjoy it. If we manage to secure your hearty support and deliver strong business results on top of that, our resolve to step up to the next level is absolute. We'd love to sit down with Drew to brainstorm what kind of new entry could squeeze every drop of charm out of these characters. We want to make this remake a rock-solid first step toward the true evolution of Ninja Baseball Batman.